20 - 26 September 2001
Issue No.552
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 20 - 26 September 2001 Issue No.552 |
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Turkey seizes the day
Turkey wasted no time before declaring its support for any possible US strike against "terrorists" to prove that it was "a good friend of the West," Gareth Jenkins reports from Istanbul
Turkey effectively declared war on the perpetrators of 11 September devastating attacks on New York and Washington when it joined its NATO allies in voting to activate Article 5 of the alliance agreement, which considers an assault on an individual NATO country as an attack on all 19 members. Both the Turkish government and the country's powerful military were quick to pledge their support for US President George Bush's call for a concerted international campaign against terrorism. Meanwhile, Turkish analysts proudly predicted that the campaign would finally prove Turkey's critical importance to the rest of the world.
"From now on Turkey will be the most sought after country in the world," said retired General Cevik Bir, the former Deputy Chief of the Turkish General Staff.
On Saturday the Turkish media proudly reported that General Norman Schwarzkopf, the leader of the Allied forces in the 1991 Gulf War, had praised Turkey as a "true friend of the West."
But neither government officials nor the analysts appearing on the numerous discussions carried on Turkish television have asked how the proposed US-led coalition would define terrorism or what the repercussions of a sustained international military campaign would be for the country either politically or economically.
Amongst the general public the mood is one of weary resignation rather than enthusiasm for an international anti-terrorist crusade. Even though no official request has yet been made, most Turks assume that the US will use its base at Incirlik in south-east Turkey to launch air strikes against targets in Afghanistan. Few doubt that Turkish planes will also participate in the attacks, even if only as a token presence from a Muslim country to deflect criticism that the campaign is anti- Muslim. Nor is there likely to be any opposition from the country's military, which is anxious to demonstrate to Europe what it would be missing if it excluded Turkey from the EU's planned Rapid Reaction Force. "NATO will once again come to the fore and the EU will turn away from its mistaken policy of trying to exclude Turkey," said General Bir.
But few Turks believe that an international military campaign will solve the problem of terrorism and most fear that it will plunge the country even deeper into recession. The Turkish economy contracted by 11.8 per cent during the first half of the calendar year. An estimated 750,000 Turks have lost their jobs since the collapse of the Turkish lira in February this year. The attacks on the US have put paid to any hopes that the Turkish economy would begin to recover in the fourth quarter of this year and are also likely to result in a dramatic decline in tourism revenue, which is Turkey's leading source of foreign currency.
Although the Turkish government has been trumpeting its commitment to combating terrorism, a few dissident voices have noted that Ankara's record is far from unblemished. Over the last decade Turkish officials have frequently, and bitterly, criticised the EU for allowing sympathisers of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to raise funds and conduct propaganda campaigns from European countries. Indeed, for most Turkish officials the PKK has become virtually synonymous with 'terrorism.'
Yet Turkey has long allowed Iranian and Iraqi opposition movements, several of which use 'terrorist' methods of indiscriminate civilian bombings, to operate freely on its soil. In 1996 the Turkish authorities initially arrested, charged and imprisoned a group of Chechens who had hijacked a passenger ferry in the Black Sea. But within a couple of years all of the hijackers had been allowed to escape from prison. In April this year some of the 'escaped' hijackers stormed a luxury hotel in Istanbul and took several hundred tourists hostage. The Turkish minister who negotiated an end to the incident publicly referred to the hostage-takers as 'Turkey's brothers.'
Nor has the Turkish state arrested, much less prosecuted, any of the perpetrators of a decade-long campaign of bombings and assassinations of Kurdish nationalists, even when the attackers have been identified by eye witnesses and their victims have had no connection with the PKK or any other violent group.
The Turkish media do not refer to attacks by extremist European groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) or the Basque separatist Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) as terrorism, preferring to reserve the designation for incidents in Turkey by leftist or Kurdish nationalist organisations.
"We blame Europeans for approaching terrorism with double standards and for being unfair. But what do we do? Don't we also apply double standards?" asked columnist Mehmet Ali Birand in the English language daily, The Turkish Daily News.
Despite the containment of the PKK following the arrest and imprisonment of its leader Abdullah Ocalan, Turkey has far from eradicated its own domestic 'terrorist' threats, which undoubtedly are at least partly fuelled by economic hardship and draconian restrictions on political pluralism. There have already been several bombings and assassinations by leftist and radical Islamist groups so far this year. Most Turks fear that the numbers will now increase.
"Turkey will only suffer from this American campaign," said Ahmet, the 53 year-old owner of a corner store. "What happened in New York was appalling. No Muslim could ever condone it. But how are things going to improve if the Americans now kill innocent Afghan women and children? The economy will get worse and then there will be a reaction and more terrorist attacks both here and in the rest of the world."
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